It is known to provide a labelling machine for applying wrap-around labels utilizing a suitable adhesive or glue to containers, such as bottles, with the end of the turntable having a plurality of rotary plates spaced angularly apart on the turntable and adapted to be driven, as the turntable itself rotates, to rotate the bottles on the turntable as they are moved along a generally circular path. Adjacent this path is a label box which comprises a magazine from which individual labels may be drawn and, upstream of this label box, a first gluing device is provided for transferring glue to the containers, whereby the glue on the container, when it reaches the label box, can pick-up an individual label which, during subsequent movement of the containers along the path, can be pressed against the glue-carrying surface of the container. Downstream of the label box, in the direction of rotation of the turntable and hence in the direction of entrainment of the containers, is a second gluing device which is designed to apply to an end of a label since, with wrap-around labels, one end of each label will overlie another end thereof directly, rather than a surface of the container having exposed glue, the overlapped end being thereby adhered in place.
A labelling machine of the aforementioned type is described in German patent document DE-OS No. 33 07 662. A vertical strip of glue is applied to the outer periphery of the containers passing by, for example tins, by means of the first gluing device arranged as a gluing roller on the outer side of the turntable.
The containers provided in this way with a strip of glue, pass both the label box as well as the second gluing device provided there with continuous auto rotation with a direction of rotation opposing the direction of rotation of the turntable.
During the movement of the containers past the label box, the containers roll with their glued area on the initial area of the front wrap-around label in the label box, due to which the latter is removed from the label box and then completely wrapped around before the previously glued end of the label sticks to the end of the label removed first.
Then the containers, continuing to rotate in the same direction, pass to a brushing-down station, where the wrap-around labels are pressed firmly against the containers and smoothed.
Due to the use of a glue-applicator roller for the first gluing device, there is no accurately defined and exact gluing, particularly in the case of soft containers, such as, for example, plastic bottles or, however, also containers, bottles or the like which have a slightly varying diameter on account of manufacturing tolerances.
On account of the imprecise application of glue to the periphery of the containers rotating continuously about their own axes in the opposite direction to that of the turntable strands of glue, which cannot be avoided, tend to spread, i.e. glue passes beyond the peripheries of the containers moved by way of the turntable into the region of the label box. Here the glue can extend beyond the front edge of the front wrap-around label to be removed, and penetrate into the stack of labels. Consequently, it cannot always be ensured that only one wrap-around label will be removed; there is an ever-present danger that several labels may stick together and be removed at the same time, which can lead to considerable disruption.
German patent document DE-OS No. 31 21 359 discloses a labelling machine in which glue application members in the form of spray nozzles of an additional gluing device are provided. Immediately before the transfer of the glued labels to the containers, hot-melt adhesive can be applied by means of these application members to one or more points in the region of the container to be labelled. Such an additional gluing device is used, above all, when difficult labelling conditions exist, such as is the case for example when rectangular or square bottles are to be labelled. With bottles of this type, on account of their adherent tension, the labels will become detached from from the bottle in their edge regions.